TOWNSHIP 29 – An Orrington man suffered minor injuries Saturday when he was shot in the buttocks by a fellow hunter while rabbit hunting.

Stephen R. MacMillan, 55, of Orrington was hunting along Buffalo Stream in Township 29 with dogs and eight other hunters when the incident occurred, Sgt. Doug Tibbetts of the Maine Warden Service said Sunday.

One member of the group, Galen B. Moody, 44, allegedly shot MacMillan accidentally about 9 a.m. Saturday.

Moody, according to the warden service, heard the dogs coming toward him and went a short distance into thick woods. He knelt down so that he could see better under the dense cover.

“He thought he saw a rabbit,” Tibbetts said Sunday, “and fired his 12-gauge, single-shot shotgun. It just so happened that Mr. MacMillan was bent over at the same time, looking in the same direction.”

MacMillan was struck with about 45 pellets from the No. 7.5 shot, the warden said.

According to the shot size table online at www.shotgunworld.com, No. 7.5 shot contains about 350 pellets per ounce, with each pellet about 2.4 millimeters in diameter, about half the size of a BB.

Moody and another member of the hunting party took MacMillan to Eastern Maine Medical Center. He was treated and released, according to Tibbetts.

The warden said Sunday that the incident was under investigation and that it was too early to decide whether charges would be filed in the case.